The Secret (2006)

Uneven and unsatisfying

This film is one of those that takes itself too seriously and in so doing ceases to remember that movies are first and foremost about entertainment. If you want to show you have depth become a swimming pool and if you want to send a message go to Western Union.

It began with a good idea, promised to deal with real human emotions and then became a disappointing cliche of PC whining, absurd plot resolutions and self-indulgence. Ultimately the emptiness of the plot is not the actor's faults, but rather that of the preachy and simple minded writer.

Save your nickel for something worth buying. October 31, 2008

Movie review

A somewhat trite storyline, but done really well, with no gratuitous sensuality! Ending may be a surprise, depending on how many movies of this type one has watched! October 3, 2008

Very well acted

I am rather surprised at the reviews. I thought the acting was completely solid. You knew when it was the mother and when it was the daughter. I must admit I was nervous about the couple consummating since it was known beforehand that the girl would come back to inhabit the body but other than that it was great. Although it is reminiscent of Freaky Friday it is smarter. I truly enjoyed the movie. September 24, 2008

music?

I'm a huge Duchovny fan, and he was great in this... it's definitely a very interesting film, and worth renting, imo.

I'm wondering about certain music that was used in the film though-- specifically, what are the songs in the following scenes: a) when Hannah and Ben are kissing on the couch on their "night alone," b) when Sam/Hannah asks Ben to dance with her, when she's in the nightgown, and c) when Sam/Hannah does the shot at the party.

Any help? September 14, 2008

The Secret-fascinating take on an old movie theme

The Secret is a fascinating take on a old theme, soul migration, used in many films. But where it's usually played for laughs in films like "Freaky Friday", this film tries to delve into the consequences for a loving couple and their daughter. It's a love story on two levels...The love of the mother and father which acts as both source of strength and temptation; the love of the mother and the father for their daughter which must inevitably separate the couple forever if they are to reclaim their daughter's soul.

Hannah, the mother, played by Lili Taylor, is a would-be photographer and housewife who gave up her education when she fell in love and bore a daughter, Samantha (Sam) at a very young age. Her relationship with her ophthalmologist husband, Benjamin, played by David Duchovny, is loving and strong but she is having great difficulty in her relationship to daughter Sam, played by Olivia Thirlby, a rebellious teenager who brushes off her mother's protectiveness and despises her lack of ambition. A tragic accident leaves both near death but when Hannah emerges from a coma to find Sam slipping away in the ER, in trying to save her daughter she somehow projects her soul into the girl's body and is trapped there while her body dies. On waking in Sam's body, she's horrified but her condition is dismissed as the result of trauma and psychological strain. Once home with Ben, however, she gradually persuades him to believe her story.

The film is hardly the horror tale a reviewer claimed earlier...And though it's a spoiler...It should be noted it does not cross a certain sexual line in the relationship of father and mother/daughter, though it plays intriguingly on the border. Although once accepting the transfer Hannah at first seeks to rekindle her relationship with her husband, after she and Ben learn that Sam's soul may still be buried within her she is persuaded by Ben that she must resume Sam's life in the hope that their daughter will revive over time. After initial bewilderment at the life of a modern teenager, Hannah begins to immerse herself in Sam's life, learning that her daughter was leading a secret and dangerous life she and her husband knew nothing of. Eventually, her desire to keep her daughter's existence alive combine with a mix of old resentments and raging teen hormones to begin estranging her from Ben who is increasingly fearful of again losing Hannah as well as his daughter. Both parents are tempted by the thought of resuming their life together at Sam's expense while Hannah is further torn between the thought of building the life of her own she gave up when she married young and a refusing to let Ben move on without her. Meanwhile Ben finds himself veering between loving, overprotective father and bitterly jealous husband. Both Duchovny and Thirlby handle the need to shift tone and mood frequently in scenes very well and succeed in making the concept believable. Ms. Thirlby is especially fine in accomplishing the shifts between the Hannah and Sam personalities, she clearly has a great career ahead. Add a very moving ending and it's a wonderful take on the idea, facing good people with impossible choices and a lovely testament to the love of a mother and father for their child. I highly recommend it.

September 13, 2008

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